Could someone please tell me the details on how the Speaker of the House and Senate President are chosen? And how are the committee members and committee chairs chosen?

The health care votes last year gave us a peak at the hardball politics that go on behind the scenes. It reminds me very much of how our Massachusetts legislature works. As you know, Massachusetts politics is dominated by Democrats, there are only a few Republicans. The Democrats are controlled by the House Speaker and the Senate President. It is all top down. There is really no representation. The only people who get representation are the ones who live in the districts of the Speaker and Senate President. This is not a truly representative form of government. All of the state pays taxes but the only people who get representation are those who have the most powerful people in legislature, the other legislators are just rubber stamps. They line up with their begging bowls offering their votes in exchange for their bit of the state aid for their local district.

I believe this is also going on in Washington, especially in the Democrat Party. So, I would like to know whether the Speaker and Senate Presidents are elected by secret ballot, which would be free of political pressure. Or are they elected in an open way which would subject them to all sorts of bribes and arm twisting.

The Speaker is elected by the House. (See Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution.) Technically, the House could elect someone who was not a Member of Congress as the speaker, but has never done so.

The Vice President is the president of the Senate according to the Constitution. The President Pro Tempore is mandated by Article 1 Section 3 and is elected by the Senate. By Senate Tradition, it is typically the longest serving member of the Majority party who is elected to this position.

House Rule X governs the selection of Committee Chairs. They are selected by a vote of the House.

Each party in the Senate and House select/elect their speaker. The party with the most votes in the house is the majority party and they select the majority speaker. Minority parties select the minority speaker. The VP can break a tie vote in the House. The Majority Whip (speaker) of the house is the only one that can bring impeachment against the President.

7
posted on 04/19/2011 5:52:08 PM PDT
by mountainlion
(America land of the free because of the Brave.)

I know that each party selects its leaders, but what I would like to know is the actual process. Whether it is done in a totally free way as by a secret ballot or through an open face-to-face manner. I think this is the key to who has the power.

I am only getting a whiff of this but I think I smell a skunk. If legislators are not allowed to vote in secret, they they will be strong-armed by the most powerfull members of the legislature. This could keep a small clique of people in control of the Democrats and Republicans and the financial interests that support that small clique can control the whole legislative branch. I think this is key.

There’s the president of the senate (the vice-president of the United States) and the president pro-tempore, who is the official head of the body in the absence of the president (usually the longest serving member of the majority party).

I’m afraid that I’m not getting my point across. It is about who CONTROLS THE POWER in the legislative branch. This is what I am wondering about. If they select their leaders by secret ballot, then the majority will not be so easily controlled by a small elite group. If they have to announce their selection for the leader, then they can be intimidated or bribed by the more powerful members. Think “card check”. Card check is a scheme by the unions to intimidate rank-and-file union members into accepting a union. With card check the workers have to sign a card voting on whether they want or reject a union. This can make workers vulnerable to intimidation by the union thugs. If on the other hand, the workers are allowed to choose whether they want a union by secret ballot, they will feel free to vote their true feelings.

The speakers and committee heads can keep legislation from getting to the floor. This is why it is so important to understand just how the election process works because this could be the difference between a legislature that truly represents the people and one that is managed and controlled from the top for the benefit of a select few.

Do you think that we really have a congress that truly represents the will of the people?

In general, legislatures usually work that way. However, there are rules that allow members to force a vote on a piece of legislation if it’s being held up by committee chairmen or leaders. They’re not all powerful.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives :

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, which states in part, "The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker..." The current speaker is John Boehner, a Republican who represents Ohio's 8th congressional district. The Constitution does not require that the Speaker be an elected Member of Congress, but no non-member has ever been elected Speaker.[1]

The Speaker is second in the United States presidential line of succession, after the Vice President and before the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate.[2] Unlike in some Westminster System parliaments, the Speaker is a leadership position in the majority party and actively works to set that party's legislative agenda, therefore endowing the office with considerable power. The Speaker does not usually personally preside over debates, instead delegating the duty to other members of Congress of the same political party.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate :

The President pro tempore (also President pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate and the highest-ranking Senator. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate even though he or she votes only in the case of a tie. During the Vice President's absence, the President pro tempore is the highest-ranking official in the Senate and may preside over its sessions. The President pro tempore is elected by the Senate and is customarily the most senior Senator in the majority party. Normally, neither the Vice President of the United States nor the President pro tempore presides; instead, the duty is generally delegated to the junior Senators of the majority party to help them learn parliamentary procedure.[4] The President pro tempore is third in the line of succession to the Presidency, after the Vice President of the United States and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.[5]

Following the death of Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) on June 28, 2010, Daniel Inouye, senior Senator from Hawaii, was sworn in as President Pro Tempore.[6] By Senate tradition, the Democrat next in line to become President pro tempore after Inouye would be Patrick Leahy, senior Senator from Vermont, followed by Max Baucus, senior Senator from Montana. The senior members of the minority party are Republicans Dick Lugar, senior Senator from Indiana, and Orrin Hatch, senior Senator from Utah.

The President of the Senate is the Vice-President, so he is elected by a secret ballot of the people through the Electoral College.

The Speaker of the house is elected by an open vote of all the Representatives with it generally being a party line vote.

Handicapping a Durbin-Schumer face-off would be tough, even for members of the Senate. They vote for their leader by secret ballot. Larry Sabato, who heads the University of Virginias Center for Politics, says the senators often go into the balloting with a majority pledged to support them but lose anyhow. Politicians are very good at fibbing to peoples faces, Sabato explains. The logical thing to do is to tell both candidates for majority leader that youre for them.

Do you seriously need a thread for this when all you need do is Google your questions? Well anyway, the Speaker of the House is elected by the members of the entire House. The party holding the majority at the time has the most votes, so their favorite candidate wins. Like all elections, candidates are self-selected. They throw their metaphoric hat in the ring, and campaign for the position. They win if they can convince a majority of their side (majority party) to vote for them.

The process is the same in the Senate for Majority Leader (and, by the way, other leadership positions).

The president of the Senate is an entirely different matter. It is a constitutional function of the Vice President of the United States. It is largely ceremonial.

30
posted on 04/19/2011 7:24:17 PM PDT
by Wolfstar
("If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his friend." Abraham Lincoln)

they have a closed vote in the caucus to see who is where, then they have an open vote on the floor. But the matter is decided before the floor vote, the speaker election, when the gavel changes hands, that is the open vote. This year it was boner vs newts friend.

The speaker is not chosen by secret ballot. On the first day of a new congress, there is a vote for speaker and each house member shouts his choice. The two caucuses usually decide on who their nominee is ahead of time.

The president pro-tempore of the senate is usually the longest serving member of the majority party.

The majority and minority leaders, whips, etc. are chosen by their individual caucuses. Members choose to run for these offices and then try to get enough votes to win. I don’t know if it’s by secret ballot since these elections are always behind closed doors.

As far as I know, the majority and minority leaders choose the committee chairmen, but the members of the committee have a say in the matter.

Overall, very little (if any) legislative business is done by secret ballot.

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